Egyptian textile strikes highlight economic challenges facing Morsi

Four years ago, protests in this Egyptian cotton mill city sowed the seeds of the revolution that ultimately toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Today Mahalla is again seething, as a strike by tens of thousands of textile workers entered its second week Sunday, posing an early test for Egypt’s new president, Mohamed Morsi.

The spreading labor unrest threatens one of Egypt’s key export industries at a time when the country teeters on the brink of a balance of payments crisis. It also signifies how expectations that were raised by last year’s revolution have remained largely unfulfilled, and how that frustration could boil over into more unrest, with further disastrous consequences for the economy.